Some communication receivers decode received signals using soft decoding metrics, and buffer the soft decoding metrics for later use. For example, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) systems use a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission mechanism in which the receiver buffers soft decoding metrics in a buffer. Buffering capabilities for E-UTRA User Equipment (UE) are specified, for example, in “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio access capabilities (Release 9),” version 9.2.0, June, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,526,889, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method in a receiver including receiving from a transmitter an aggregated-spectrum signal including at least first and second component carriers in respective spectral bands. Information related to processing one or more of the component carriers is buffered in at least one shared buffer, such that storage locations in the shared buffer are selectably assignable for storing at least first information related to the processing of the first component carrier and second information related to the processing of the second component carrier. The one or more of the component carriers are processed in the receiver using the information buffered in the shared buffer.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in this field and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present patent application.